Regarding yukkuri "hands"

I do not know if there was a topic like this before but just what part of the NON-bodied yukkuri serves as their arms ?

Aside from Marisa and Reimu with their braid and hair tubed hair, respectively, other yus tend to be portrayed as making do with their mouth only to get and drag stuff (ignoring the stupid portrayal of alice using their peni-peni as tentacles). So what's your head canon on this?

Let's see how plausible hair limbs are:
1. Marisa - 1 braid ( equivalent to a one armed man if given a human equivalent, except for paramarisas who have 2 braids that are tied to their hats)
2. Reimu - 2 hair tubed hair. Reimus have a wide range of articulation
3. Sanae - The snake accessory is a tentacle of sorts (?. I think there is a pic out there with a Sanae actually manipulating the snake to strike a marisa)
4. Myon - I cannot really imagine if there is a way for a youmu to use some part of its hair as arms as the actual youmu has that hair cut that does not show any prominent lock/locks of hair. EDIT: apparently for some reason we have this
http://oyp.yunyah.com/posts/51797?tags=eibura a youmu somehow having a floating sword/knife by its side and carving a pumpkin (I just do not see how this is supposed to be actually holding that sword/knife).
5. Alice - same as myon.
6. Chen - the 2 tails are its arms.
7. Ran - same as myon.
8. Remilia - the wings (?)
9. Flan - same as Remilia.
10. Unyu - same as Remilia
11. Aya - same as remilia if winged or same as myon if not. Apparently the tassels of the hat can be used (http://oyp.yunyah.com/posts/47147?tags=Alice+hair_use) although it is weird as the tassels are part of the actual hat.
12. Yukari - those ribboned hair strands could maybe conceivably used as arms. Though I have never read such a story or seen such a pic yet.
13. Meiling - I can imagine its braids used as arms like reimus.
14. Sakuya - same as meiling as it has braids as well.
15. Patchouli - same as meiling. Although considering how big those ribboned locks of patchy, she might be moving them quite slowly.
16. Yuuka - same as Myon. Now the question is does it farm solely by manipulating its tool using its mouth?
17. Nitori - the twin tails look passable as limbs though no art shows this yet.

I'll add more if I feel like it

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As you can see if yukkuris were real and assuming no magic BS telekinetic limbs ala elfen lied and somesuch what-have-yous several types of yus would have massive advantages over others because of the number of limbs they possess (ignoring abilities).

Now imagine 1 limbed marisa vs 2 limbed reimu, reimu has a massive advantage over the marisa despite the latter being prominently depicted as the more "masculine" yu.

A Reimu that is not a lazy scum could potentially be a better farmer than a Nyoukarin because it can manipulate tools better as it has "hands". A Yukari assuming it can move all of its hair like an octopus would even be much better if it can be assed to farm.

Canttakeiteasy said:

A Reimu that is not a lazy scum could potentially be a better farmer than a Nyoukarin because it can manipulate tools better as it has "hands". A Yukari assuming it can move all of its hair like an octopus would even be much better if it can be assed to farm.

They may have the means to do so, but not the inherent aptitude. It's part of traits shared with their Touhou counterparts. A good example of this is the pool where you have a Patche that is not strong enough to pull off a home invasion herself but is smart enough how to plan one.

Alice is sometimes shown to use her penimamu (or grow penitentacles) to act as arms. Haa's artwork comes to mind, but not the only example of that type.

There are mutations (or alternate forms) that qualify. Goodfree's Yamame tarantula is one. EDIT: I forgot Takoishi (octopus Koishi).

Well, yukkuri have some quite agile tongues, so even if they don't have braids they still can make do with that
Granted, they can't do much, but in "nature" stories yukkuri are shown to have very basic needs, and if they need to carry something, a single braid is enough (like a little one, or a leaf for toilet)
The need to carry objects arises when humans are involved, what with abyuser taking away their accessories or having them hold onto something to avoid falling in a pit of hot sauce
At that point having two braids is useful, since they have two times the strength (theoretically speaking)

Canttakeiteasy said:

(ignoring the stupid portrayal of alice using their peni-peni as tentacles)

Alice is very city-sect!

If they don't have braids, they tend to use their tongues, their accessories, or their miscellaneous parts to assist in doing things. Other than that, their hair, even if not braided, is usable, as it can actually move.

I see yukkuri using their tongues for things way more often than their other appendages, even if they have two of them.

On the other hand (sorry), I've also read several stories where Patchoulis having two dextrous hair-clumps was treated as a significant advantage.

And octopus Yukari is a thing I've been meaning to write about for so long I hadn't realized nobody else has done it yet. Huh. I should get on that...

plausible hair limbs are:

19. Eirin - has that huge pony tail but it looks too heavy to be used as an arm of any sophisticated articulation. I can picture it as a whip though. ---- I read in wolf and 7 yukkuri an Eirin touching the ankle of a bodied reisen so there are stories that it can be somewhat limber enough to do so. The same story shows Eirin can't fold leaves though so it seems for most of its tasks it uses its mouth more.
20. Mystia - like remilias probably the wings
21. Tokiko - same as mystia
22. Kaguya - same as youmu. Although it does not matter as it is immortal and likely to be fast asleep anyway.
23. Mokou - has two prominent sidelocks with ribbons that can be used as arms.
24. Akyuu - same as youmu's problem.
25. Keine - has sidelocks though not as distinct as Mokou because it is not tied by anything to make it more distinct.
26. Tenshi - has sidelocks. No ribbons though.

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An interesting aside: Reimus and Marisas are the most common species it is probably a mix of them being energetic and prolific enough and their more dexterous limbs. At least that is how I justify the current state of the demographic in my mind.

Canttakeiteasy said:

Reimus and Marisas are the most common species

They are also the most active in producing children among other yukkuri, to the point that it can kill them.

And regarding Alice, some artist has drawn some with a bit longer hair uses their hair for simple task.

excalivern said:

They are also the most active in producing children among other yukkuri, to the point that it can kill them.

And regarding Alice, some artist has drawn some with a bit longer hair uses their hair for simple task.

Where? I searched with the tags alice hair_use and no such luck on OYP. If it is out there somewhere I'd love to see it.

Canttakeiteasy said:

Where? I searched with the tags alice hair_use and no such luck on OYP. If it is out there somewhere I'd love to see it.

post #4824
:^)

ಠ_ಠ

excalivern said:

And regarding Alice, some artist has drawn some with a bit longer hair uses their hair for simple task.

Apologies, not task, but gestures, my mistake.
As for where I think it's on post #68791 and post #67582

EasyV said:

post #4824
:^)

-_- I know you are joking but for the sake of my own anal retentiveness those are peni-peni.

excalivern said:

Apologies, not task, but gestures, my mistake.
As for where I think it's on post #68791 and post #67582

Maybe I just lack imagination but

67891 - Natural sway of hair. I do not see this as a gesture
67582 - I do not see any hair movement that is out of the ordinary to indicate a gesture.

Canttakeiteasy said:

67582 - I do not see any hair movement that is out of the ordinary to indicate a gesture.

Isn't Alice using a strand of hair to pick up her accessory?

Canttakeiteasy said:

67891 - Natural sway of hair. I do not see this as a gesture
67582 - I do not see any hair movement that is out of the ordinary to indicate a gesture.

As far as I know, other than 67582 where it uses her hair to pick up it's accessory, 67891 is the only post where Alice's hair made any movement out of heavy activities.

excalivern said:

As far as I know, other than 67582 where it uses her hair to pick up it's accessory,

Oh so does that mean she used her side bangs to take off the flower? I was thinking that she just shook it off. It does not help that the art is very lacking in details but I guess that is unimportant to the author's story.